Dog snapped at me for the first time

[geminichick]

Hi all - 1.75 y/o mixed breed (pittie/boxer/shepherd/border collie/great pyrenees/staffy (she's a mut).

She spent the last 45 min with a frozen enrichment bowl (e.g. frozen peanut butter, strawberries, kibble, a little bit of water), and then was relaxing on the couch. I went over and sat next to her without touching her and she rolled over and kicked my leg indicating she wants pets. I start to pet her, she starts to snarl a little, so I stop. She begins rolling around on her back and nudging me with her head, so I start to pet her again. I lean over a little and she snaps up at me half in a play growl/half actual growl. I backed up, she pursed me a little bit but then I moved over to the other couch and she was done. Very bizarre b/c she's never done it before. She didn't actually bite me, but I'm wondering where I messed up.

edit- one thought I had is that she was overstimulated from the bowl, and had a full belly so didn't want the pressure on her. The only time she's really snapped like that is if she was injured and I was trying to touch the injured part to apply meds (e.g. when she had a paw injury last summer)

 

[mfuller]

@geminichick To me this seems like a riled up, spunky dog behavior. Remember that dogs don’t talk to communicate and they also can’t use their hands to communicate. They typically use their mouths. Unfortunately for us, their mouths are full of teeth and we don’t have the same protection as they do when they decide to use them, even if it’s just assertive behavior, not aggressive.

I, personally, would not chalk this up to be “bad” behavior just yet. See how she does in repeat situations. She is at an age where aggression could start to manifest, but going off of your description of her body language, I’m wary to call it that at this point.

 

[geminichick]

@mfuller Thank you. This is very reassuring. I would definitely describe her as spunky. Haha

 

[messenger_of_truth]

@geminichick Hopefully someone else with related experience will jump in on this, but I believe it may be overstimulation.

I've not experienced this with any of my dogs, but I believe others that have say they want the pets ... then once received it over stimulates them, they get snappy as a release ... then want the pets again.

Kinda like a drug addiction

 

[cecole74]

@messenger_of_truth Or a cat

 

[geminichick]

@messenger_of_truth this resonates the most vs what @eront was saying - mostly b/c she does resource guard special treats, and we've been doing a lot of counterconditioning with her around this. She had finished the treat at least 10-15 min prior, and the bowl was nowhere near her. When I saw down she had been napping, and then rolled over and snuggled up against me, kicking me with her leg, and when I went to pet her she started to snarl a little so I stopped. Then she did that entire process again and I got the playful growl/snap sort of thing. It could be resource guarding though, so just something to keep an eye on in general, I think I will leave her alone for longer after big treats